I worship daily at the alter of cheese. It’s classed as its own food group round mine, right at the bottom of that pyramid of foods that you should consume daily in large quantities so my research is extensive in this matter: cheese makes pretty much everything better.

Here are some of cheese’s lesser known food and drink chums that you should definitely have in your life.

1. Booze

Hot boozy cheese brings all the boys to the yard (Picture: Hazel Paterson)

Whether you are using a good ale, cider or wine your fondue base should be booze fuelled. Hot melted boozy cheese is what crazy fitful dreams of joy are made off. Cider fondue works particularly well and if you dip chunks of raw apple in it well then at least you’re getting some of your five a day at the same time, it’s practically a superfood.

Take a chunk of mature cheddar, dunk it into a glass of sambuca then dip it into freshly ground coffee and eat it, seriously, its amazing and I don’t even like sambuca. Alternatively if you really can’t face the sambuca then a drizzle of runny honey also works.

Fermented soya beans and cheese you exclaim? Well yes, the umami kick from miso paste boosts the cheesiness of your cheese sauce so stir some into your macaroni cheese or any sauce or pasta bake and get the cheese factor cranked up to eleven.

If you are craving cheese on toast only to discover that your housemate has eaten all your lovely extra mature cheddar and left you with a mild rubber block in its place smear a bit of miso paste on the toast before layering your slices of mild, rubbery, tasteless rubbish and whack it under the grill.

Cheese skills (now disown your housemate).

4. Salad

The bonus points accrued by eating salad justify the liberal use of cheese in this cheese and bacon bowl of joy (Picture: Hazel Paterson)

Creamy yet crumbly feta cheese with its salty kick will hugely improve pretty much any salad or why not simply go with this cheese salad, mix cubed feta with pomegranate seeds, some chopped mint, salt and pepper and some good old crispy smoked bacon, drizzle with a fruity dressing such as Womersley’s raspberry and apache chilli vinegar and you have created the ultimate cheese and bacon salad and without a lettuce in sight.

Pierce a whole ripe camembert with a knife and insert slivers of garlic, sprigs of thyme or rosemary into them, wrap in foil and place in a ceramic dish then pour over some white wine or sherry, cover with the foil and roast in a hot oven for about 14 minutes until the cheese is all wobbly and runny, drizzle with a bit of truffle oil for total decadence then dig in with boiled new potatoes, asparagus spears, artichoke hearts, basically anything you can lay your hands on.